Poll: Romney, Obama tied on economy, but voters more optimistic about recovery

A new poll shows voters are more optimistic about the future of the economy, but split on which presidential candidate they trust to manage the recovery.

In a new CNN/ORC International poll released late Tuesday, 60 percent surveyed said they believed the economy would be in good shape next year, a massive spike from the 39 percent last October who said they expected a better economy.

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"Americans are usually optimists, but in 2011, polls for the first time found that more than half the country thought that economic conditions would worsen in the next 12 months," said CNN polling director Keating Holland. "Now that trend has reversed itself, with only four in ten saying that the economy will be in poor shape a year from now."

Nearly three-quarters of respondents, though, at 73 percent, say current economic conditions are poor, with only 27 percent pegging the conditions as “very good” or “somewhat good.”

The poll also shows a near-even split over which candidate would best handle the economy, with 48 percent of registered voters choosing GOP candidate Mitt Romney and 47 picking President Obama. Among all Americans, the two are deadlocked at 48 percent each.

Among those in battleground states, 51 percent say Obama would do well handling the economy, with 42 percent doubting his policies. For Romney, 42 percent say he would be a good economic steward, against 45 percent who disagree.

Both candidates have launched strong attacks on each other over economic policy, which voters consistently rank as the most pressing issue for the November elections.

Obama later this week is launching a two-day bus tour of Pennsylvania and Ohio, where he will tout his economic record. The Obama camp has hit Romney over his work at private-equity firm Bain Capital, calling him an ‘outsourcer’ of jobs, and on his jobs record as former Massachusetts governor.

Romney’s campaign has attacked the president over a week May jobs report and charged that administration with running out of time to boost the economy.

The CNN poll was conducted from June 28 to July 1 and has a 2.5 percent margin of error.